To create the biggest of the big, Twin Cam 96 crankcases are machined to accept a pair of big-bore cylinders. Inside, 4.0-inch pistons move through the same 4.4-inch stroke employed in the TC96. But because bigger, heavier pistons would net more vibration along with more power, the 110’s forged slugs are light. Reciprocating mass is essentially the same as in the smaller-bore 96, so both engines use the same crankshaft, flywheel and anti-vibe hardware.

...the incredible diesel device I found waiting for me to ride in the Bavarian countryside south of Munich, masquerading at a swift glance as an American-style cruiser with a big parallel-twin motor that could easily resemble Triumph's forthcoming 1500cc custom, is a bike literally unlike any other, and not only because of its choice of fuel.

Topping the firm's 2005 announcements is the Hammer, a 1634cc, six-speed power cruiser. Responding to the trend towards ever-bigger V-twins, Victory bored out is four-valve 1507cc overhead-cam 50-degree V-twin—already the performance king among mid-teen V-twins—by 4mm to 101mm, creating an engine which could cruise at a lower rpm and still provide no-downshift passing power.

The FXDBI Street Bob is stripped-down, single-seat version of the Dyna, with the minimalist style that you might see in a stripped-down homebuilt custom. Styling highlights include a 29-degree steering head and fork angle, "Mini ape-hanger" handlebar, speedo set on the Fat Bob fuel tank, a new wrap-around rear fender over a 160mm rear tire, wire-spoke wheels, mid-mouint footpegs and congtrols, Street Bob air cleaner trim ring, special tank emblems, and a wrinkle-black finish on the console, belt guard, and battery cover, which has polished trim. Fuel-injection is standard.

The Nightster isn't exactly light at a claimed 545lb dry weight (claimed 565lbs ready-to-run), but the center of gravity is fairly low, and this combines with the wide bars to make aggressive riding easy, even at around-town speeds. Out of all the cruisers I've ridden, the Nightster would be high on my list if my plans involved a lot of city riding - it's almost like a (really low) standard in terms of how it attacks city traffic. Just be careful of those wide bars while splitting lanes!

The overriding characteristic of the huge V-twin is the honkingly massive amount of torque available. A peak of 115[ftlb] come in at a barely-above tickover 2500rpm. This makes the bike exceptionally fast off the line with no rider effort. Big V-twins are never silky smooth but it’s better than most. It’s a high tech engine, not simply a bored out antique.

Honda claim over 100 horsepower at 5,000rpm from the fuel injected donk but the really big numbers are in the torque department, try 163Nm or 16.6kg-m on for size, at only 3,000rpm! It is a low revving long stroke design with a large 4-inch bore, but it still revs harder than Yamaha's smaller 1,600cc Cruiser. The acceleration off the line is excellent and the long stroke engine finds traction easily, plenty of throttle from a standing start will provoke some wheelspin but this just adds to the attraction and is really quite addictive.

With a relatively modest 68 horsepower on tap, acceleration is predictably stately. On the plus side, the Twin Cam 88 starts making acres of torque just a few hundred rpm above idle. Power flows seamlessly from there, so shift when you feel like it. Aside from the endemic H-D clunk between gears, the five-speed gearbox on our bike shifted flawlessly.